


Derealization

by JediC8H10N4O2



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Gen, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), life goes on - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-13
Updated: 2019-04-13
Packaged: 2020-01-12 13:43:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,069
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18447758
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JediC8H10N4O2/pseuds/JediC8H10N4O2
Summary: A lot can change with a snap of the fingers. Half the universe can disappear, and leave people behind to pick up the pieces.A frightened boy begged to be allowed to stay. Billions of miles away, the Earth keeps spinning, unaware of anything beyond its own loss.The world didn't stop with a finger snap. But some people think it should have.May Parker doesn't know that Peter's gone for sure. That isn't necessarily a good thing.





	Derealization

She hates it. She hates Stark, she hates Oscorp, she hates the Avengers. She hates that Ben is dead. She hates the Accords.

Ned showed up first. He was breathing fast, talking. Explaining that Peter had gone to fight the alien invasion with Ironman and must have gone on the ship when it disappeared because Peter wasn't answering his phone. This was before everything else happened, and so May was just angry. She had told Peter to be careful. They had fought over his being Spider-man. He had promised her he would only do small things that wouldn't put himself at risk. She started rehearsing her speech, so that when Peter turned his sad brown eyes on her, she wouldn't give in.

(She would give anything to have those eyes on her now)

She tried to call Stark, because it was all his fault. He told her that he would keep Peter safe. He promised. But he didn't answer his phone, and the news was saying that he had been on the ship when it disappeared. So she tried to believe that Stark would protect her nephew. She had to. And so she and Ned sat in front of the television, waiting to hear that Peter was safe.

MJ was next. By that point, people had vanished. The anchor on the TV had disappeared in front of everyone's eyes as he speculated on what had happened in New York. May and Ned had heard the crashes and gone outside to see cars everywhere. People staggering around, looking confused, children crying, parents yelling for their children.

MJ had shown up, eyes overly bright, and a biting wit hiding her fear. “I figured Peter would know what was happening,” she said, as May made some soup to feed her and Ned called his parents. She and MJ heard a crashing sound, and Ned walked quickly out the apartment, muttering something no one could hear. MJ tightened her grip on the cup of tea May had forced in her hands. “Maybe they lost their phones,” May had said, watching Ned as he left. MJ laughed, a hollow, bitter sound.

“Yeah. Probably out looking for him.”

(“The last words I said were that I hated them” she whispered into the soup. “And then they were gone into dust”)

When Ned came back five hours later, Flash Thomsen was with him. His eyes were red, and he had bruises and dried blood stained his shirt. “I found him in a car,” Ned said, as he pushed Flash into a chair. “He shouldn't be alone.”

(“I wasn't listening,” Flash said, staring unseeing at the wall as Ned helps May tape up Flash's ribs. “He was talking and I wasn't listening. What if it was important?”)

The next day is a school day, a work day. May quietly wakes up and makes breakfast for the three teens in her apartment. She makes omelettes, and toast, and pours orange juice and makes coffee and tea. She doesn't wake them up for school. She doesn't head to work. MJ and Flash and Ned troop into the kitchen, bags under their eyes.

(May doesn't eat the omelettes. Peter loved omelettes.)

There's an emergency broadcast. Captain America is there, with a beard (“I got in a fight with a guy named Steve from Brooklyn” Peter says, smiling as he ices his bruise). He says it was someone named Thanos's fault. That half the world had vanished. He told everyone to stay calm. (He doesn't say they'll fix it.)

The world is not calm. The world is not calm, but it's also not in chaos. Everyone is just too numb. They try to find out who is alive, and who is missing (no one ever says dead). People are encouraged to try and find children who might be unattended near them.

She's the only adult in the apartment building. There are some teens, some children, but there are much more empty apartments. Her apartment is always full of people, but it's too quiet. The doors are never closed, and everyone sleeps in the same room where ever there is space.

(“I should have been there,” Ned says, eyes glued to his computer screen. “I should have been with them.”)

After a month, things have become routine. There is no school. There is no work, not really. Ned and Flash and MJ and the other older teens go out to find food, while the younger teens help May as she looks after and feeds the children who have no parents.

(“Why didn't they take me too?” asks a too young child with hurt brown eyes. “Why did I get left behind?”)

Everyone is just trying to survive in this post apocalyptic world that makes no sense. MJ is always out searching for food, for medicines. Flash goes with her, never wanting to be on his own. Ned joins them on most expeditions, but sometimes he stays in. He holes up in Peter's room, working long into the night or starting early in the morning. There are bags under his eyes, and he's beginning to lose weight.

(“He's out there, I know it. If we can just get a message out to him and Ironman, they'll come back and solve this,” Ned says when May comes in. “He's out there. He has to be.”)

It's been two months, and they've lost a few. The casualty list is high (only the confirmed deaths, not the missing half of the world). May has seen more dead eyes than she has ever wanted to see, and Ned and MJ and Flash are too old, too soon. They've seen more dead than they should. Captain America and what's left of the Avengers keep sending out messages. They recommend how to scavenge, where to find food, who to contact so that the remnants of the government might help.

(May looks at all the children in her apartment, covering the small space she had shared with Peter and wonders if Peter is helping others) 

New York is a ghost town, and everyone knows it. The government can't help. They are more alone than they have ever been, and no one has any solutions to fix the problem.

May hates Stark, she hates the Avengers. She hates that Ben is dead.

(She hates that she doesn't know where Peter is, and if he's safe)

But above all, she hates Thanos.


End file.
